Southern is new academy boss

Southern, pictured, kicked off his career at Everton where he was a teammate of his predecessor Nick Chadwick at Warrington's branch of the NPLFA.

The 35-year-old is best known for his time at Blackpool. After signing for the Tangerines in 2002, Southern spent the next decade making 376 appearances as the club rose from League One to the Premier League in 2010-2011.

Southern, who appeared 20 times in England’s top flight, is no stranger to Warrington Town or the NPLFA after assisting Chadwick several times last season including the NPLFA's first ever Inter-League game earlier this summer when the pair led their students to a 2-0 victory over Oldham Athletic.

The NPLFA are delighted to have found a worthy replacement for Chadwick who left Cantilever Park last week to become the new U18s academy coach at Championship Wigan Athletic.

A spokesman: “We are extremely delighted with the appointment of Keith at Warrington Town FC. His qualifications, experience in the game and enthusiasm for youth football is fantastic and the Academy are sure to progress under his leadership from the hard work his friend and former colleague Nick Chadwick has created."

He added: "To bring such quality of coaching personnel into our programme is a credit to the continuing development we are making.”

Warrington chairman Toby Macormac said: “The appointment of Keith is another coup for the club. We are dedicated to ensuring that our students get the best footballing development they can receive.

"He already has a relationship with our second year students and our new intakes as he assisted Nick at training and trials over the last year and we are really looking forward to the academy progressing further.”

Southern said: “I would like to thank Toby and the NPLFA for this opportunity and I am really looking forward to working with both parties. It is such an interesting project that is is being recognised and growing and I am really looking forward to helping the students develop.”

* The EVO-STIK NPL became the first league in English football to launch a youth league and academy combining football with further education when the NPLFA opened its doors to its first intake of students in September 2014.

Since its successful launch at five pilot clubs with the backing of the Football Association, the NPLFA has more than doubled in size. Providing career pathways into the football industry, students aged 16-18 who win a place with the NPLFA study on two year courses for Level 3 Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualifications.

While studying, they compete in the NPL Youth League, the academy's own FA sanctioned competition won last season for the second time by Mickleover Sports. They also play in national competitions like the FA Youth Cup while being trained on a daily basis by UEFA qualified coaches.

The NPL Football Academy has also entered into a strategic partnership with the world’s leading provider of sports scholarships that should soon see students playing and coaching in the United States while linking up with German giants Bayern Munich.

The NPLFA announced last summer that it was teaming up with Soccer Chance USA, specialists in innovative soccer scholarships for UK students and the UK arm of Global Premier Soccer. GPS, a large US soccer business with many thousands of players in its system, is also the official partner to FC Bayern Munich in North America.

Follow us: @evostikleague on Twitter | Facebook www.facebook.com/evostikleague | The NPL Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/TheNPL/